Renting a car will be a pain until at least 2022

Re:Renting a car will be a pain until at least 2022 by WalterBright on Friday September 17, 2021 @06:22PM (#28571575)

Helping out your friends and locals now and then is also normal human behavior. But it does not extend to running a society that way, and never has. It is rooted in building a network of mutual obligation, a common trait in small communities. It's not really considered a "reward" or payment.

> Unwillingness to work without immediate reward not an immutable fact of human nature.

Yeah, it is, as no society has managed to make that work as an organizing principle. Even the Israeli kibbutzen have failed. Altruism rarely extends beyond family and close friends, and even then, it isn't reliable.

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Re:Renting a car will be a pain until at least 2022 by xwdv on Friday September 17, 2021 @10:13PM (#28572971)

Altruism basically means you are working for favors instead of money. However, people are much more likely to default on favors owed to you because it is harder to compare the value of one favor to another, and this creates opportunity to return a favor that is worth less than the one you were given.

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Re:Renting a car will be a pain until at least 2022 by WalterBright on Saturday September 18, 2021 @12:02AM (#28573581)

The weird thing about reciprocity (exchanging favors) is the value of the favor is rarely considered. For example, the exchange of pizza for help in moving.

Of course, if you're too cheap over too long a period, people may stop doing favors for you.

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Re:Renting a car will be a pain until at least 2022 by BuyMyBitcoins on Friday September 17, 2021 @11:36PM (#28573438)

>” However, people are much more likely to default on favors owed to you”

I’ve never thought about it this way before, and it’s a pretty profound quote.

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